


I Run Better Than I Swing

by crashboxhasmywholeheart



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Bonding, Developing Friendships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Miles Morales Needs a Hug, Panic Attacks, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 23:31:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18158471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crashboxhasmywholeheart/pseuds/crashboxhasmywholeheart
Summary: Gwen has a surprise for Miles which results in the following three lessons:1. Somethings never change (even in an alternate universe.)2. You don’t have to run, leap, and swing into everything.3. Spiders stick together.ORGwen has a surprise for Miles and some tender memories are unexpectedly talked through.





	1. Lesson One: Somethings never change (even in an alternate universe)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I've never written a fic before, but yeah I love Spiderverse so much that it inspired me to create an AO3 account and post one. I hope you guys have as much fun reading this fic as I did writing it!

Miles is falling behind again. He can’t really help it. Gwen knows this city and Miles doesn’t. She is able to weave and duck past people’s shoulders, there is room for her atoms and particles in this universe, and Miles–well Miles’ atoms are left to squeeze and slide in the spaces left behind.

He feels so foreign here; there’s no denying that Gwen’s universe is playful and outlandish but it’s also like a brightly colored jungle bug, always keeping you on your toes. It’s the first time he’s been here at night, and unsurprisingly it’s just as bright as it is in the day. There are a thousand light poles and every billboard beams neon lights, that slant over buildings and into the streets. Every corner might as well be Times Square.

Gwen tosses a look over her shoulder and when she sees Miles is lagging behind she pauses, giving him a moment to catch up. 

“Hurry up Spider-Man. Aren’t you supposed to be faster on your feet?”

Gwen mutters the quip under her breath, knowing that Miles’ Spidey-Sense will grab it from the air. 

Miles must have made a face because the man he’s trying to shoulder past suddenly makes room for him. 

‘Sorry,’ he thinks, ‘that wasn’t meant for you.’

Aloud he says, “yeah, in my own dimension!” 

Someone looks at Miles funny and he lowers his voice as he asks, “why is everyone in your universe so pushy?”

He finally reaches her, somehow she isn’t getting bowled over just standing there. Gwen shrugs, trying to appear nonchalant, but she’s biting her lip, and Miles knows she’s holding back a smile.

“C’mon!” she says and one of her hands dart out from her pockets to grab Miles’ arm. Her grip is strong (thanks Spidey Strength) and before Miles could even think to readjust himself, she is pulling him along. Miles is glad for it, well not glad for the ache quickly forming in his shoulder, but glad to see Gwen truly excited for something. 

Yesterday she’d dialed him up on his communicator, extending an invitation to her universe. That alone was rare, but on top of that, she’d said that she had a surprise for him.  
Miles’ stomach turns at the idea, either that or from the sharp corner Gwen takes him around. He really did have no idea what to expect, but whatever it is, it’s special enough to have Gwen grinning every five seconds, which is good enough for him.

Gwen tugs him along until they reach a set of stairs that descend into the subways. She relinquishes her grip and stops to sort of sway at the edge of the top step. Miles teeters alongside her. Miles thinks she looks kind of off, but he can’t figure out why. Then she pushes back a piece of her feathered hair, that was falling into her eyes, and it clicks. She looks disheveled.

Her shoulders are rising and falling, her hair is a little looser, and she’s smiling so much that Mile’s has just about memorized that little gap in between her teeth. It’s strange. It’s nice. 

“Thanks for escorting me,” Miles says.

Gwen snorts and her pale eyes dart to the side. 

“I kind of had to, if not we wouldn’t have reached until next week.”

Someone’s shoulder clips Miles’ as they start down the stairs, he can’t blame them it’s a tight space. He doesn't want to move, Gwen is being so open and he’s scared that at any moment something will happen and she’ll retreat back into herself.

“And we still might not make it,” she says with a wink.

Then in a flash, Gwen’s gone, gliding down the stairs as if it’s a flat surface.

“What do you mean,” Miles calls, “how far is this place?”

Gwen doesn’t give an answer and Miles supposes he’ll have to catch up if he wants one. 

He begins shuffling down the stairs and he wishes he had his earbuds. Every once in a while his Spidey-Sense will flare up and the subway isn’t exactly known for being the quietest place in the world. It’s okay now though. It helps to zero in on certain sounds as to not get overwhelmed like the sound of a woman’s heel against the ground, the subtle vibrations of the tracks from some far off train, and his own heart thudding a little quicker than usual. 

When he reaches the base of the stairs Gwen is there. The rush hour traffic has dispersed and there aren’t many other people in the station. 

Gwen pushes herself off the wall and falls in step with Miles.

“When we round this corner, do you think you can turn invisible?” she asks.

“Yeah I can–but why would I–”

“Just trust me,” she says, and as she turns to Miles, he sees her eyes are creased with silent laughter, “take a leap of faith.”

“Gosh you’re cheesy,” Miles says, “you realize that was, like, something Peter B. would say, right?”

“I know, but it worked didn’t it?”

It did.

When they turn the next corner, Miles melts into the air, disappearing from view.

To Gwen’s credit, her step doesn’t falter. She’d told Miles before that the way he just vanishes has always kind of freaked her out.

There are even fewer people on this platform: only a woman with bright frizzy hair leaning over her phone and a greying gentleman who’s resting against a beam, half-asleep. They don’t stir as Gwen and Miles pass.

Miles is getting a little antsy now. Of course he wanted to hang out with Gwen, but he was with his parents for the weekend and he promised them he’d be back home by 10:30. It was 8:00 now which wasn’t really a big deal before, but now that they were taking a train he had no idea how long this would take.

“Hey Gwen,” he whispers, “I kind of have a. . . .curfew, you sure this won’t take too long?”

Gwen looks over her shoulder, and her eyes somehow find the exact space he’s occupying.

“I’m positive.” 

Then her eyes shift and Gwen is scanning the space behind him. 

Miles turns to see what she’s looking at, but only finds the same two people absorbed in their own lives.

When he turns back, to look at Gwen, he finds she’s no longer there. 

“Gwen,” he hisses, “where are you? This better not be the surprise.”

“Down here,” his ears catch and he squints into the shadows until he can make out Gwen waving from just behind the train tracks’ archway.

‘Okay, so, most definitely didn’t see that coming,’ Miles thinks.

Nevertheless, Miles glances behind him once and then proceeds to lower himself from the platform, careful not to shift any pebbles. 

Once he joins Gwen in the shadows, he lets himself flicker into view. Gwen is already walking down the tracks bent over her phone screen. Miles pulls out his and turns on his flashlight, before jogging to catch up with her.

Gwen fiddles with her phone a little while longer before her flashlight beam joins his. Out of the blue Miles thinks that if another train was approaching he and Gwen would look like a pair of headlights.

They walk in silence, Miles’ footsteps echo down the tunnel and Gwen somehow manages to keep her’s virtually nonexistent. This was something he had to get used to with Gwen, if she didn’t have anything to say she just didn’t talk. It used to make Miles kind of nervous and it still did sometimes, but it was beginning to feel more natural now. 

They’ve been walking for about two minutes when Gwen says, “we’re almost there.” 

Miles really wishes he had his earbuds now. This whole thing is eerily familiar, Miles finds himself hesitating at turns and searching the walls for anything that glows, his skin prickles as if there’s something crawling on him. 

‘Calm down Miles’ he thinks ‘this is nothing like last time. You’re fine.’

Gwen was opening up to him and she deserved to be excited about something. If Miles freaked out now he’d be risking that. He just didn’t have the heart for it. So Miles steels himself, he shoves his hands deeper into his pockets and tries to focus on the little things: his and Gwen’s breaths, his untied shoelaces hitting the metal of the track, anything at all. Anything but–

“Miles?”

“Hmmm,” he hums looking up to find that Gwen has paused mid-step and is squinting down the tunnel.

“Do you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Miles asks, but even as the words leave his lips he begins to pick up on it, the vibrations of the track, coming a little more strongly than they should. Something inside his chest began to tug. Look out Miles it says.

And then Gwen does something unexpected: she laughs. 

“Typical.”

She paces over to Miles. The rumble of the tracks is getting stronger. 

“We don’t have our web shooters,” Miles says.

“Who needs ‘em?”

“I do!”

The howl of the train was getting closer.

“It's a leap of faith, Miles,” Gwen sings.

“What does that even mean?” Miles shouts over the clatter of the tracks.

“It means hold tight!”

And then Gwen is crouching and her arms are snaking around Miles’ legs. 

“Uhhh Gwen–what’re you doing?”

Gwen grins and then Miles is flying, but not like Spider-Man flying, more like an upward flailing of limbs. 

“Ngahh!”

He hits the ceiling and out of instinct his hands and feet stick. 

Miles twists to see Gwen backing up to the wall of the tunnel. She gives a firm nod of her head and takes a running start, her long and limber legs leaping like a doe’s. Her arms rise above her head and then she is flipping onto her palms. Gwen vaults herself from the ground to halfway up the wall. She crouches then leaps from her position to the ceiling and her arms and legs neatly catch right beside Miles.

They stare at each other for a moment.

Miles says, “weird flex, but okay.”

Gwen squawks out a laugh that is followed by another and then another and then Miles is joining her in the form of snickers. They keep laughing even as the train comes round the corner, even as it passes below them. 

The wind from the train snatches up the sound and makes Gwen’s hair whip around her face. Miles can feel the sheer force of it tugging against his body and it’s electrifying. 

The train passes and Miles and Gwen drop to the ground.

“Was that the surprise?” Miles asks and laughter is still flitting between his words.

Gwen’s laughter redoubles.

“Come on,” she says, “we’re close.” 

Reinvigorated, she takes off in a jog and Miles keeps right on her heels. 

‘See Miles,’ he tells himself, ‘this isn’t anything like the last time. You’re okay and you’re in an alternate universe with your friend. You’re having a good time.’

A weight is lifted off Miles’ shoulders and all of a sudden it’s like he’s in his suit and soaring through the sky. Life is easy.

Miles and Gwen veer off the main tracks and into a series of side tunnels. When they hit a fence Gwen, never one to break her stride, leaps over it in one go. Miles refusing to be left behind jumps onto the adjacent wall and launches himself up and over it the fence, landing beside Gwen. 

“Not bad Spider-Man.”

“What can I say, I’m gifted.”

Gwen laughs again, gosh that sweet sound. Miles is sure he’s heard her laugh tonight, more times than he has in the past two months. 

They’re about to turn a corner when Gwen holds out an arm. Miles stills and tenses, has he missed something? His Spider-Sense never went off so…

“Close your eyes!” Gwen says.

“What?” Miles asks.

“Close your eyes,” Gwen repeats. 

Her eyes go wide, imploring him to do as she asks. She looks as if she’s about to explode and Miles might as well do as she asks before she does.

Miles hesitantly closes his eyes and he can’t help but twist his lips in a show of his uneasiness. 

Gwen places a hand on his shoulder and gently begins to guide him forward. Miles stumbles once or twice (he’s still growing into his limbs), but eventually, Gwen squeezes his arm and they come to a stop.

“Okay,” she says, “open them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, you read my fic, thank you very much! It's crazy appreciated! Kudos, constructive criticism, and of course any feedback at all is always appreciated! (Yes, I know I use a lot of exclamation marks, but I'm very excited, so I feel as if it's appropriate!)


	2. Lesson Two: You don’t have to run, leap, and swing into everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You've probably been wondering where the hurt is, well BAM! It's officially arrived on the scene.

Miles lets his eyes open, then rapidly blinks them in a desperate effort to adapt. To say the lights here were blinding was an understatement.

“Sorry,” Gwen says, “I should have warned you.”

Miles turns in the direction of Gwen’s voice, deciding to try and see her first. With each blink, more of her came into focus. First, she was only a series of overlapping hues, then came the folds of her jacket and the creases of her joggers, next were the minute details such as the fine fuzz of her hair, and finally, it all came into focus with Gwen’s face watching his intently. 

Miles’ gaze shifted to just behind her, trying to get the walls to come into clarity. When they do, Miles wishes they didn’t. Gwen’s surprise is a room, every inch of its walls coated in tags and murals and it’s domed ceiling curving high above their heads all being illuminated by a series of harsh fluorescent spotlights. 

Gwen stands beside a duffel bag with what looks to be spray cans sticking out of it. Her arms are crossed, but her eyes are wide and she’s chewing on her lip. She wants him to like it.

Miles can’t even focus on her though because a second later he’s turning straight ahead to see a piece of art he never thought he’d see in person again.

The words your expectations jump out at him, it’s letters curving in pastel pink and neon blues. It’s backed by a cloud of navy and shapes and lines of all colors surrounded the words. In the middle of it all is the shadow of a person filled in with black and outlined in white. There are no drips.

It was by no means his, but it was familiar all the same. Too familiar. It was all too familiar. 

“I didn’t do all of this if that’s what you’re thinking,” Gwen says, voice light and teasing, “I’m as impressed as you are.”

Miles can barely hear her over everything else, over the ghostly echoes of his universe, bouncing off the walls and back to him. All he can hear is, the bumping beat of the stereo, Aaron’s smooth voice guiding him along, the sharp click of his phone’s camera, barrels scraping, and an uncle and a nephew’s easy laughter. Then other sounds start coming back, darker sounds: the menacing SNIKT of the Prowler’s claws come to life, the desperate animalistic sounds of his own breaths, Fisk’s deafening death blow and the silence that followed.

“Miles?” Gwen asks.

She sounds like she’s underwater or like Miles is underwater, like everything and everyone is drowning in the waves of his memories. 

Miles makes some kind of unintelligible sound. Gwen takes a step forward. Miles takes one back.

“Miles?” she asks again, this time her voice is most definitely laced with worry.

Miles can’t take it anymore. He finally listens to his Spidey-Sense which is screaming go, Go, GO and turns his back on it all. With no hesitation he tears out of the room, stumbling into one of the barrels as he does.

“MILES!” Gwen calls and he can hear her, already pursuing him.

Miles gives up trying to remember the turns they had taken and relies on his Spidey-Sense, taking the tunnels that feel right. His limbs pinwheel in their effort to push his body forward faster. Miles loses all semblance of form as he slides around corners and clips walls. He tosses a glance over his shoulder to see Gwen sliding past a turn, right on his heels.

Faster Miles, FASTER.

Miles pushes his body even further. He flings himself over the fence and nearly stumbles into the tracks, face-first, but he somehow manages to keep his footing. It’s not long before Miles spots the light that signals the end of the tunnel. He dives forward and slams into the platform. Miles takes a few precious seconds to roll atop it than clambers to his feet and escapes up the stairs. 

Miles doesn’t feel any better as he bursts above ground, but he can’t stop, he just can’t. If he does the memories might catch up to him, and if they do he’ll fall. Miles just doesn’t know if he’ll be able to get back up again.

This time he doesn’t try to move with Gwen’s universe, he moves through it, shoving aside men, women, and children alike. Distantly, he thinks that Spider-Man should be treating New York better, but, to be fair, New York hasn’t always dealt Miles the prettiest of cards.

Miles runs and runs until he doesn’t even know what he’s running from. It might as well be his own shadow at this point. By now his body’s screaming at him, even superheroes have their limits. Gwen’s world of bright colors begins to shift and cross over each other. Miles has to stop, and the second he does, the adrenaline leaches out of him. It’s all he can do to lower himself to the curb.

Miles sits with his eyes closed and his head between his legs, trying to re-establish some kind of connection with reality. He can’t really do much else.

He sits there for about a minute before he feels a hand on his shoulder. Miles’ breath catches and he looks up to find Gwen with a pained curve to her lips and her pale eyebrows furrowed.

Gwen remains silent and for that Miles is grateful, he doesn’t trust himself to speak right now.

They remain that way for a while, until Gwen slides her hand a little lower, under Miles’ armpit, and gently tugs. 

‘You can’t sit there forever’ her eyes say, ‘you have to get back up Miles.’

Miles is Spider-Man and as long as Spider-Man is able he gets back up. So Miles stands and when Gwen leads him through the streets he doesn’t question it. He is just grateful to not be alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for taking time from your day to read my fic and I hope the rest of your day is lovely! Kudos, constructive criticism, and of course any feedback at all is always appreciated!


	3. Lesson Three: Spiders stick together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, folks, we've hit the home stretch a.k.a Miles and Gwen sit down and sort some things out.

They walk through New York’s streets and Miles is distantly amazed at how easy it is to walk with Gwen, at how the city parts at her feet. It’s not long before she’s leading them up a set of steps, through a lobby, up more steps, and through an apartment door. Miles can only assume it’s Gwen’s place.

He wishes he could have visited under different circumstances, right now he’s too worn out to take any of it in. All he can do is tiredly note the leftovers on the kitchen counter, the faint blue cushions of a tasteful couch, and the plush carpet that his sneakers are stepping all over. 

Gwen leads him to a window, unlatches it, and tugs it open. They step through and out onto the iron grating of the fire escape. 

“One second,” Gwen says and then she’s left Miles out on the fire escape to hug his knees and wonder how such a nice night could have gone so bad, so fast.

When Gwen returns, it’s with two bottled waters, a lit up string of fairy lights, and a blanket. She passes the bottles to Miles and makes herself busy with wrapping and twisting the lights around the fire escape’s metal. 

Miles appreciates it more than anything, the lights make him feel more at home, in an alternate universe of all places. When Gwen finishes she slides down beside him and spreads the blanket over both their legs. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks.

“No,” Miles starts but his voice comes out all wrong, hoarse and cracked. 

He cracks open his water, takes a gulp, and then tries again. 

“No, but I guess I need to. I mean that’s the best thing to do, right, talk about your feelings?”

“You’re asking me?” Gwen snorts, slanting her head to look at Miles out the corner of her eyes.

“Fair point,” Miles says, but it’s humorless.

Truth be told he kind of does want to talk about it. It’s been a couple months, and he still hasn’t told anyone the full story of what happened down in those tunnels. He still hasn’t told anyone about the night he became his universe’s one and only Spiderman. He's just not ready yet. This moment with Gwen, though, it would be an okay start.

He holds himself even tighter as he says, “there’s a Miles Morales in this universe.”

It takes Gwen a moment to respond, for her to process that he’s evading. Thankfully she understands and is kind enough to play along, “yeah I always kind of thought there would be.”

“Well, he’s out there, somewhere, he put that piece up you know, the Your Expectations one.”

Miles makes a point to look at Gwen when he says it, looks at her so he can see the understanding in her eyes when she realizes that he’s been down there before and it wasn’t pretty.

“So, you’ve made that piece before in your universe?” 

Miles takes another swig of his water and clears his throat before saying, “more or less, little interdimensional tweaks here and there.”

“It’s my favorite in there, you know. Like I swear I’m not just saying that. It showed up about a week ago and the night I saw it I was absolutely spellbound, spent half the night looking at it.”

“You spend a lot of time there?” Miles asks.

“It’s a cool place to visit,” Gwen says, “I like to think it helps me understand my city a little better.”

For some reason, it really warms Miles’ chest to hear her say that. The warmth is accompanied by emotions and with the emotions comes everything he was just too tired to feel moments ago.

To Miles’ complete and utter embarrassment his breath starts to stutter, and he shifts his focus from Gwen to the cars that pass on the street below. He thought it would help, but then he’s reminded of how he ran through those streets just months before, ran from the Prowler, ran from his uncle, ran from someone that he always thought he could run to.

Miles’ breath starts to pick up again, but unlike the first time, pure panic is intersected by frustration, frustration that he can’t keep it together, frustration that the past still haunts him, frustration that he can’t just be normal.

Miles hates losing control he just hates it. He hates the way his eyes are burning, and he hates the way how just below the blanket his hands are trembling, and he hates how he’s just losing his grip. Miles wants to be here and he wants to be okay. 

Miles wishes he could understand the principle of control, he should, after all he was raised on it. His dad took the time to teach him control when he had temper tantrums in the backseat of his cop car. His mom taught him control in the form of patience, always urging him to keep his head and to breathe. His Uncle Aaron who taught him control in his swagger, control in his walk. Uncle Aaron who taught him control in the dips and drips of a spray can. Uncle Aaron who taught him how to control his swing who helped him to learn proper form, who helped him to become Spider-Man before he’d even been bitten. Uncle Aar-. 

“Miles please, I know it’s Aaron. Just talk to me.” 

Miles doesn’t even realize he’s been saying Aaron’s name aloud, he was too far away to hear even himself. He wants to stop, but he can’t. He’s lost control and Miles mutters Uncle Aaron’s name over and over like a baseline.

Gwen takes his hand, in an effort to calm him, but it startles him so bad he has to pull away. It’s not a clean separation though, their hands catch, for just a fraction of a second, but they catch all the same. They both feel the tug and Miles stops panicking just long enough to look up and see the look on Gwen’s face. She’s gaping, just like how Miles is sure he is. 

Miles’ panic doubles. He hasn’t lost control of his powers in months. His frame is shuddering and he stretches his legs out so he can hunch over them. Miles has his eyes closed, but he can still feel it, feel his form flickering, in and out of visibility. He knows it’s irrational, but Miles is scared that if he doesn’t calm down he might just wink right out of existence.

But then Gwen is speaking, “ Miles please, please, please, I’ve been there, we’ve all been there.” There was a slight tremor in her voice. 

“I can help you, we can get through this together, but you’ve got to breathe.”

Her voice is steadier this go around, and she sort of sounds like his mother when she’s talking to a patient. Of all the people to be able to pull that off, Miles would have never guessed it be Gwen.

Miles tries his best to find something to hold on to, something to bring him back. He is far past the point of social graces. Miles shifts his sneaker closer to Gwen’s until the tips of them are touching, his red with her white. 

Gwen picks up on it immediately and scoots just an inch closer to Miles so that their arms are touching. A minuscule ripple of static runs between them before settling. Gwen seems to understand that he’s not coming on to her, he just needs something steady to latch on to.

“I’m here Miles. I’m here until you can find your way back.”

Miles lets his head rest against the brick of Gwen’s apartment. It’s a long process, but eventually, his breathing begins to even out and Miles’ form stabilizes. Miles feels calm and it’s a different kind of calm than he was before. Instead of shoving down his feelings, he’s let them in, and he feels better about that night than he has in–well ever.

When Gwen realizes Miles is okay, she takes her first drink of water, and it’s a long one. 

When Miles is able to trust himself to speak he says, “thanks, Gwen. Just–yeah, thank you so much.”

“It’s what I would have wanted when I became Spider-Woman,” she pauses, “and when my Peter died.” 

Gwen looks Miles in the eye and a soft look steals over her face, “I’m glad that I could be there for you.”

Miles nods and he somehow feels as if that’s enough. In just that one sentence alone Gwen has somehow made all his embarrassment evaporate. She’s magic like that sometimes.

They don’t say anything for a bit, but something still isn’t sitting quite right with Miles.

“You’re probably wondering why I flipped–” Miles starts.

“Miles, you don’t have to tell me.”

“I know,” Miles says, “but I want to. I want to tell somebody. I don’t think I’m gonna lose it again, anyway.”

”Okay,” Gwen says, still not sounding too pleased, but willing to listen.

“It’s kind of a double whammy you know? I used to go down there with my Uncle before he…passed, and that was where I first met my universe’s Spiderman and where I watched Fisk…do what he did. Those tunnels were where I got chased by my first supervillain, The Prowler, and just seeing them brought it all back to me. I’ve been avoiding those tunnels for a long time, but tonight I just wanted to face ‘em you know, with you, but I-I couldn’t do it.”

“Oh gosh Miles–I–I shouldn’t have taken you down there, I brought you to that place with all of that. I should have known better.”

“Oh no, Gwen,” Miles says, “I’m sorry for ruining your night with my feelings. I should have had more control over them.”

“Miles you can’t say that, it wasn’t your fault, you had no idea,” Gwen begins to say, but then Miles shoots her a quirked an eyebrow and twists his lips in a knowing smile. 

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Gwen says, “but you get what I’m trying to say right?”

For a minute, Miles gathers his thoughts and considers the right way to say what he wants.

“Don’t feel bad, Gwen. Tonight was good, not like right now, right now, but in the grand scheme of things, I think this will be like really important in the recovery process. I’ve been dodging what went down for months and this is the first time I’m really acknowledging it, ya know? I think this is okay, recovery is supposed to be messy, I think.”

“Miles, that was just about the smartest thing I’ve heard anyone say.”

“Really, because if you stand next to Peni for like five seconds she’ll make me look like a Neanderthal.”

Gwen laughs and nudges his side, “I’ll have to test that theory, sometime.” Gwen pauses, “are you sure you’re good?”

“Yeah, I’m positive,” Miles says. “How could I not be with a friend like you at my back?”

A slight dusting of pink coats Gwen’s cheeks, or maybe that was just one of the neon signs. Has Miles mentioned they were everywhere around here?

“How much time until your curfew?” Gwen asks.

“About 30 minutes, give or take.”

“Come give me hand with this,” Gwen says, already crawling back inside the window.

The night ends with Gwen and Miles curled up under the blanket and sharing headphones that were plugged into Gwen’s laptop. They’d chosen a familiar favorite of theirs, the original Spider-Man t.v series. 

They had swapped their waters out for hot cocoa and when Miles leaves back for his universe, it's only part of the reason he feels so warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! I hope this fic was some good food and that it nourished your little Spiderverse souls! I hope you have a great day and as always kudos, constructive criticism, and of course any feedback at all is appreciated!


End file.
